Viber's new Public Chats allows users to watch live conversations between celebrities

There are plenty of ways to keep tabs on your favorite celebrities from Twitter and Instagram to Facebook and other forms of media. And now messaging service Viber is looking to introduce a new way to do that with its new Public Chat add-on. The feature is being implemented into the Viber app and will allow users to get even closer to their “favorite personalities” and even be a part of their conversations online.

Willing participants will allow Viber users to peek in on not-so private messages being fired back and forth between themselves and other celebrities. Communications can involve everything from basic text and photos, to videos, stickers and links. Popular chats will be curated to the main Public Chats page on Viber, and there will be a full search feature for users to check who is live chatting at any given moment. There is also no limit as to how many Public Chats a user can follow at once. While it in part sounds like just another way to serve up ads, Viber insists this “is just additional content on Viber. There will be no ads in in Public Chats.”

As for which celebrities will be involved, the company says it is “launching this concept with a great line-up of celebrities and personalities all over the world.” So far we have heard names like DJ Paul van Dyk, Perez Hilton, and YouTube stars like Tyler Oakley, among others.

By listening in on live chats between their favorite celebrities, Viber sees Public Chats as a way for users to get more involved than they ever have before. While it is hard to say how popular a feature like this can be (likely depending on the personalities that get involved), Public Chats clearly differentiates Viber in a crowded app category.